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The Inertia

Most outdoor types, whether you enjoy summiting 14ers or simply like kicking back on the porch, keep an eye to the sky. The sky reveals so much about what is happening both now and in the near future, including those ominous signs that have you ducking for cover from whatever is wrecking havoc on the horizon. But for Mike Olbinski, those ominous signs are not a reason to duck for cover; rather, they proved  reason to load up the car with the best tech he had available and set out on The Chase.

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Nothing quite like a roadtrip, especially one driven by the raw power of storm systems. And no better way to reveal that raw power than through timelapse.

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The backstory is fantastic, per Vimeo description:

I turned 40 years old this year and I told my wife all I wanted was 10 days chasing on the plains. She loves me though and it ended up being 14! Two days in April and then 12 straight days from May 23rd – June 3rd. Those 12 days were absolutely incredible. I’m friends with other chasers via social media, met them on the side of roads while chasing, even grabbed dinner together…but never have I felt more of a part of the chaser community than being out there for almost two weeks. Living the life…seeing the same amazing chasers over and over…it was overwhelming to me. I missed my family, it was hard at times, but it was one of the best experiences of my life.

Both chases originated from where I live in Arizona. In April I drove out all night to Colorado, slept maybe an hour, chased all day, got a good night’s sleep, chased the next day in the Texas panhandle and drove home that same night, stopping only for a quick nap in New Mexico. The second chase was the same. Left Phoenix late on the evening of May 22nd, never really slept and the chase was on the next day. All in all I drove well over 12,000 miles over the course of those two weeks, visited 10 total states (New Mexico, Texas, Kansas, Oklahoma, Colorado, Nebraska, South Dakota, Wyoming, Montana and North Dakota) and shot over 45,000 frames of footage for this film.

And the inclusion of the accompanying soundtrack? Seamless.

Olbinski continues in explaining why he chose “The Secret History” by Kerry Muzzey, from the album The Architect:

We saw four tornadoes (one of them appears in a deleted scene at the very end of the film), countless supercells, gorgeous shelf clouds, stunning mammatus and some awesome lightning shows. The song..well, the song for this film blew my mind. I loved it when I heard it, but then seeing how everything started coming together on the timeline, the pace, the slow build-up, the huge ending…I’ve said it before, but the song is 50% of the film.

Whether the song is, indeed, 50% of the film or otherwise, it all came together perfectly.

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